The Seventh Edition of ELAC International Animation Day was held on March 26th by focusing on Iranian Animation. Organizers of the event were East Los Angeles College, Cinema and Without Borders Foundation, and Aduren Studio .
In the first part of the program, nine short animated films were screened:
Hajar’S Wedding by Mahin Javaherian 8 Min 2008
The Tree by Sare Shafipour 5 Min 2014
When I was a Child by Maryam Kashkoolinia 8 Min 2014
The Switchman by Mehdi Khoramian 10 Min 2016
The Fox by: Sadegh Javadi 10 Min 2017
Am I a Wolf? by Amir Houshang Moein 8 Min 2019
Malakout by Farnoush Abedi 11 Min 2019
Gone by Samaneh Asadi 2 Min 2019
The White Whale by Amir Mehran 10 Min 2020
(This selection is organized by Amir Mehran)
(This selection was organized by Amir Mehran)
This is a brief video report from 2022 ELAC International Animation Day, Iranian Animation:
After the screening, panel of experts, discussed the screened films and answered the audiences questions: panel members were Tom Sito, Sarah Baisley and Mike Libonati
Tom Sito is an animator, historian and professor of animation at the University of Southern California. His credits include Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Dreamwork’s Shrek (2001), Warner Bros’ Osmosis Jones, Fox Garfield the Movie (2004). He lectures on animation around the world, and is the author of several books. In 2014 he was featured in the PBS American Experience documentary Walt Disney.
Sarah Baisley served as editor in chief of AWN, 2003 to 2007. In charge of all content creation for popular monthly professional online magazine, three weekly newsletters and daily online news service serving the animation and visual effects industries worldwide (155 countries). Previously editor in chief of Animation Magazine for five years, she is a specialist in animation publicity and journalism and is freelancing now in the wine industry as a journalist and marketing specialist. She headed publicity at Hanna-Barbara, Ruby-Spears, Southern Star and Film Roman studios during the previous 17 years of her career. She is founding member of Women in Animation. She also is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and participates on panels concerning topics about the animation and visual effects industries. Currently she is a retailer and journalist about wine and spirits.
Mike Libonati has been an animation and visual effects instructor for over 15 years. His students have had their work presented at Siggraph, CTN Animation Expo and various film festivals throughout the country. In addition to teaching, Mike works in 2D and 3D development in Los Angeles for various clients for both film and television including projects for Disney, Universal and Fox. Mike has also worked on renderings for architectural lighting design on projects such as the Coex Mall in Korea, Asia’s largest underground mall, and Tesla Motor Company in Los Angeles. Mike has a Master’s Degree from CalArts in Experimental Animation. He currently teaches animation at ELAC.
In the SPOTLIGHT section first The Sixth String was screened, a short animated film by Bahram Azimi an award winning and internationally recognized Iranian animation artist. The screening was followed with another short film about making of The Sixth String and then Mr. Bahram Azimi addressed the audience in a video message and went through the process of making The Sixth String
Bahram Azimi is an Iranian designer, screenplay writer and director of animation. He has thirty years of experience in producing animation films such as animated commercials, TV series for children and young adults and short films screened at international film festivals.
Bahram Azimi is the writer and director of the very first animated 3D feature in Iran.
Mr. Azimi is a professor teaching animation in several colleges and universities. He has also been teaching the art of animation in workshops many cities in Iran and in China, Greece, Italy, India, Mexico, Turkey, and France.
Mr. Azimi has been a jury member in over two hundred local and international animation film festivals and his own films, paintings, drawings, caricatures have received 105 awards from festivals around the world
In the last section of the program Tribute to a Legend, the focus was on Mr. Ali Akbar Sadeghi, the Legendary Iranian painter and Animator. After screening of a video message by Mr. Sadeghi, his masterpiece Flower Storm was screened for the audience.
Born in 1937, Sadeghi is a graduate from Fine Art Department of Tehran University in 1969. In 1970 Ali Akbar Sadeghi was assigned by the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and the Youth (Kanoon) amongst the first group of artists who founded the Film and Animation department. In 1970 he was commissioned by an advertising agency to illustrate a book titled as the Hero of Champions which won the first prize in the category of Asia’s best illustrations. Between 1971 to 1977 he made seven animations including: Seven Cities, (1971, 18 min.); Flower Storm, (1972, 9 min.); Boasting, (1973, 11 min.); The Rook, (1974, 10 min.); The Sun King, (1975, 22 min.); Zal & Simorgh, (1977, 25 min.). In the meantime, he worked on illustrating books such as Abdolrazagh Pahlavan and Be the Child of Your Time.
Sadeghi has won numerous awards including Gold Medal from Tehran 7th International Festival of Films for Children and Young Adults, 1972, Honorable Mention from Tampere International Short Film Festival in 
Finland,1973, The Soviet Painters Association Award 1974, The Grand Prix of Lebanon Educational Films Festival 1974, Bronze Medal from Columbus Film Festival, 1975, Bronze Medal from Columbus Film Festival, 1975, Honorable Mention from International Animation Film Festival in New York, 1975, C.I.D.A.L.C; Gandhi Peace Prize at 24th International, Bronze Medal from C.I.D.A.L.C. Annual International Committee held in Paris,1974, Honorary Diploma for the best short film from Tehran 9th International Festival of Films for Children and Young Adults,1974, Honorary Diploma from Krakow 12th International Film Festival , 1974, Bronze Medal from Krakow 12th International Film Festival,1974, Gold Medal from the Virgin Islands International Film Festival,1975, Silver Medal from Chicago 11th International Film Festival,1975, Honorary Diploma from the Festival International de Court Metrage pour la Jeunesse, Paris, 1977, The Grand Prix from the Noma Concours for Children’s Picture . 83 Book Illustrations,1978, The Grand Prix from the Best Designed Books from All Over the World, The Grand Prix from the First Biennial of Iran Graphic Design Exhibition for book illustration, 1985, Honorable Mention from the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, 1989.
Media Sponsors: Animation Magazine and Animation World Network (AWN)
Supporting Organizations: Southeast European Film Festival LA, Polish Film Festival LA, Hungarian Film Festival LA and Scandinavian Film Festival LA.
Organizers:
East Los Angeles College
East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). ELAC is one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) The College was established in 1945 and is situated in a secure, comfortable environment in the suburban community of Monterey Park, conveniently located 8 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Our multicultural student body of over 30,000 students complements the communities that ELAC serves. ELAC grants Associate in Arts/Science (A.A./A.S.) degrees as well as Certificate Programs.
Cinema Without Borders & Cinema Without Borders Foundation
Cinema Without Borders (www.cinemawithoutborders.com) is an international cinema webzine dedicated to covering and discovering the news, reviews, trends and new artistic milestones in independent film and filmmaking worldwide. Cinema Without Borders Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting independent and international cinema and filmmakers.
Cinema Without Border Foundation is a non profit organization dedicated to promote and introduce independent and international cinema
Aduren Studio
Aduren Studio was founded by Amir Mehran & Masoud T.Momeni in 2016. We offer a range of 3D, 2D, Animation, VFX, Motion graphics, Direction, and Post-production services to advertising agencies, film companies and etc.
Aduren Studio makes Advertising, Animated series, Visual Effects, Broadcast and Digital projects.
Coordinator and co-organizer of ELAC Iranian Animation Day is Mr. Amir Mehran. Amir Mehran is an animation director, motion graphics designer and senior compositor who have 13-years of experience in animation, CGI and composite. He has participated in producing more than one hundred projects which includes: short films, animations, features films, commercials, motion graphics, TV idents, TV programs, series, social networks and etc. He has worked as a VFX supervisor in feature films (Taj Mahal, Emrouz, Dokhtar, Kupal and etc) and senior compositor in commercials. He has made lots of TV commercials, TV broadcast idents, and film title sequences.
Director and founder of ELAC International Animation Day Festival, Bijan Tehrani is also founder and director of “I, Immigrant” Film Festival. As a journalist, Bijan is founder of Cinema Without Borders (CWB). He is an award-winning author of children’s books and short films. Bijan has been a passionate advocate of human rights, which he has actively pursued as a filmmaker, -historian, and -critic over the past five decades.
CWB has interviewed and introduced over 2,000 filmmakers from around the globe, a majority of them champions of social justice and human rights.
Terry George, Academy winner and director of Hotel Rwanda, had this to say on the 10th anniversary of CWB: ”At a time when media consolidation is threatening diverse and unique voices, Cinema Without Borders provides a forum for underrepresented perspectives and stories. Now more than ever, we need to reach across cultural, political and national lines. Cinema Without Borders is part of this critical work.”
- Photos of the event by Aaron Abeyta